It's Not a Mask
by anonymouseling
Summary: Forced to join a club or face failure, Jack and Danny choose the Host Club out of all other available clubs. Regardless of how tightly knit the Host Club is, they're not afraid to try to get in good graces with them. But when a certain Ootori gets curious he finds something unexpected, and becomes interested. Used to be called "A Little Different".
1. We Have to Join a Club?

**Title:** It's Not a Mask  
**Summary:** Jack doesn't wear a mask, who he is at school is the real him. He's not hiding his gender, nor is he in the Host Club because of a debt or blackmail of any kind. He thought his life was pretty good when he was with the host club, but when his secret is revealed Jack will unwillingly become who he's not. This fanfiction is not about a girl pretending to be a boy. This is a story with a transgender protagonist, Jack is a female to male trans guy.  
**Warnings:** This fanfiction heavily involves transphobia and homophobia in the later chapters. If you're uncomfortable with either or are triggered by said things, then continue at your own risk.  
**Chapter Length:** 1577 | **Total Length:** 1577

* * *

**Chapter I **  
_We Have to Join a Club?_

* * *

Jack couldn't help but heave a large sigh.

He stared across the classroom and out the window from his seat with his head on his desk. It had only been a week since he started attending Ouran Academy, and he was already bored with it. Sure, he could get good grades and feel like he had a high intelligence but it was barely any fun in class if there wasn't any rebel characters or class clowns, or just plain old fun people. Whilst it did make for a statistically perfect class, it was not a class he enjoyed being in.

He was beginning to miss his time in class 1-D. He had been placed there because of a mishap with his application, but he beyond loved his time there. There were class clowns, rebels and the guys who just want to have fun. Everyone was familiar with the rest of the class, and Jack would even go as far as calling each of them his friends.

Jack had even considered messing up his grades just so he could get back there.

"Psst." Jack heard the whisper from beside him. His lips twitched into a smile. The source of the whisper was one of the reasons he wouldn't screw up his grades. He probably wouldn't last very long on his own.

"Dude, wake up. I need your answers." Jack lifted an eyelid as he looked to his left. His ashen blond friend looked lost as the teacher continued her lecture on Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. Jack chuckled lightly. His best friend Danny would never have made it into class 1-B if it wasn't for Jack's study sessions and "help" in class.

Unfortunately for Danny, Jack hadn't felt like paying any attention in class today. With a smirk, he showed his best friend a notebook which bared only a slightly ridiculous doodle on it.

"No..." Danny muttered in horror whilst Jack's smirk widened into a devilish grin.

"And on that note, class is dismissed. Ah, Dawson and Bradwell. Before you leave so soon, I would like you come forwards and see me." The teacher informed the class, giving two mentioned males a stern gaze.

They looked at each other, worry predominant on one face, utter neutrality on the other. Jack shrugged, he wasn't afraid of punishment, he had accepted the odds of punishment before he slacked off today. Danny however, was freaking out on the inside, he was the epitome of scaredy cat. Though he buried it deep down, Jack knew his friend too well for Danny to pull it off perfectly.

The two packed their things in their shoulder bags before walking up to the front desk.

"Dawson and Bradwell. Before you assume this is to do with the fact you were both not paying attention through my class and blatantly daydreaming – it is not."

Danny couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief before gulping as he realised for her to comment on it, she would have had to have noticed. Thus he wasn't completely out of the woods for punishment.

"So then...why did you want to see us?" Jack asked, slightly confused.

"It is required for a student to participate in a club to pass homeroom, whether they are a member or just a visitor. As I recall, I don't remember seeing either of you on any club rosters, is that correct?"

"Yes ma'am." Danny nodded.

"Great. So you can guess what I'm going to say. Everyone in class 1-B has already joined a club or declared that they attend a club. And as such, I would like you both to look at this list of the clubs Ouran has to offer and join one." The teacher said as she slid a piece of paper over the desk towards the duo. "All you need to do is go to the club, talk to the president and then come back to me when everything is is."

Jack picked up the list, briefly looked it over before nodding at the teacher. "Alright will do, teach."

Danny could only nod his head in a farewell gesture before following his friend out.

Jack looked over the details list, the first thought that came to his head was _holy cow, Ouran has a lot of clubs. _

And it was true, just at a glance he could see no less than fifty clubs. Perhaps even more if he tried to count them. There were the clubs that you'd consider normal, such as the sports clubs and gardening club, but the further down the list you went the more...obscure the clubs became. Unique clubs such as the tea club, commoners appreciation club, and the Tamaki Suoh fan club. Jack couldn't help but shrug. Ouran did have an admittedly odd blend of people.

Jack glanced to his left and sure enough Danny had now regained his cool and trying his hardest to act cool. Jack nudged his friend slightly in the ribs, "Hey so what club you thinking about joining? Personally I think I'd love to be in the commoners appreciation club. What about you?" Jack tried his hardest not to laugh.

"Oh no way! There's one here? Holy smokes, I thought I was the only one to appreciate the beauty of the commoners!" Danny giggled, catching onto the game almost immediately.

Jack couldn't contain his laughter as the two then went on to make fun of all the other obscure and bizarre clubs they could find. Suddenly in tears, the two stood there for a full fifteen minutes, whilst people walked past them hurrying to get to their clubs in time.

"Alright, alright." Danny said wiping the tears from his eyes. "So are we going to join a club or do we not care for passing homeroom?"

Jack settled his laughter down as he also wiped the tears from his eyes. "I guess I have to, it'll get my father off my back at least. Hey, maybe homeroom will be the only class you can pass without my help!"

"Low blow dude." Danny muttered with a roll of his eyes. "Last year I totally passed maths on my own."

"Dude, you literally passed by the skin of your teeth. _One _mark away from failing miserably, the only reason I refused to help you was because I the teacher was afraid that I was copying off you." Jack scoffed, folding his arms. "Anyway, which club do you wanna join? I don't quite fancy any of the weird sounding clubs like a fan club, appreciation club or that...Host Club?"

"Well how about we start at the gardening club? I mean that's the easiest." Danny shrugged. In his mind all that entailed was water plants, maybe putting plants in the dirt. He could see himself doing that just to pass a class.

Jack looked down at the list, yep. The club wasn't full, so they were possibly able to join it. "They meet in the gardens near the rose maze. I think we'll get in, I mean. What's the worst we could do?"

Apparently the worst they could do was accidentally tip an entire jug of weed killer all over the club's prized roses. Then they had lost the tools the club had needed. And _then _they accidentally pulled up half the herb garden when weeding. After that incident, the club had unanimously agreed that they couldn't join.

They then headed over to try basketball. Again, how bad could the mess it up? Well, they gave their best player a black eye and a mild concussion, the second best player a broken ankle, the third best player a cracked rib and accidentally talked him into quitting the tea,

And the list went on. They had tried so many clubs, even going so far as to trying to get into some of the obscure ones they had zero interest in, but even those they messed up joining in. The further down the list they went, the more the clubs had been warned of them.

"There's just one club left that we haven't tried." Danny voiced as they stared at the list of numerous cross off clubs. Right at the bottom there stood one, "Ouran High School Host Club – 3rd Music Room – 7 members".

"We have to get into this one." Jack suddenly stated with a fierce determination.

"Why? We've screwed over every other club we've tried to join. Why shouldn't we just quit before we destroy _another _club."

"Because we've screwed over every other club. That's why."

"I...still don't get it."

Jack heaved a sigh. "Well, I'd hate to give up when there's just _one_ left we haven't tried. And then even if we don't get in then wouldn't you want to go out with a bang? 'The two who failed at joining every club in Ouran'. We'd be infamous. I mean no one gets recognised for failing at joining _almost_ every club in Ouran. That's just exaggeration." Jack grinned as he explained his logic. "We either join this club or die trying."

Danny sighed at his friend's schemes. "I'd rather not die thank you, but sure. Let's go out with a bang. But you bet your sweet ass they're going to remember s as Danny and Jack.

Jack laughed. "In your dreams, man. Never going to happen. It'd be Jack and Danny for sure."

* * *

_Hey there, thanks for checking out It's Not a Mask. This is currently version 1.2.0 so if you're returning to read this once again and notice some differences that's the reason, don't worry you're not going crazy ^^_


	2. What's the Plan?

**Title:** It's Not a Mask  
**Summary:** Jack doesn't wear a mask, who he is at school is the real him. He's not hiding his gender, nor is he in the Host Club because of a debt or blackmail of any kind. He thought his life was pretty good when he was with the host club, but when his secret is revealed Jack will unwillingly become who he's not. This fanfiction is not about a girl pretending to be a boy. This is a story with a transgender protagonist, Jack is a female to male trans guy.  
**Warnings:** This fanfiction heavily involves transphobia and homophobia in the later chapters. If you're uncomfortable with either or are triggered by said things, then continue at your own risk.

**Chapter Length:** 2592 | **Total Length:** 4169

* * *

**Chapter II  
**_What's the Plan?_

* * *

"Ready to wreck the last club in Ouran?" Danny sighed, as they looked at the doors of the club.

"It's a Host Club – what's the worst that we could do?"

"You said that about the sewing club."

"It wasn't that bad."

"That girl had to get stitches."

"Well she had the skills to give them herself." Jack chuckled a little darkly.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Dude. Sometimes you scare me."

"Grow up. Seriously. All they do is serve tea to people and shower them with compliments. Or at least, I hope that's all they do." Jack informed his friend. "In the real world they serve alcohol and stuff, and they've all got this particular look. Sometimes they're sleazy as well, but hopefully it's more diverse and easy going than the real world. After all this is the society for rich snobs."

"Well, let's find out shall we? No point delaying our failure." Danny sighed as he pushed open the double doors to the music room.

The room that they had entered had an array of sofas dotted about. Many were filled with girls in yellow poofy dresses, with a few blue clothed men dotted about. Plenty of them had cups and saucers of tea, along with several plates of cakes per table. All in all the room reminded Jack of a pleasant cafe.

"Girls..." Danny muttered.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Oh, get over yourself. Don't go chatting them up just yet, wait until we've joined at least."

"But—! Oh fiiine." Danny sighed as he gave up.

"Welcome." A dark haired bespectacled man greeted the two of them. He barely even looked at them, opting to continue writing in the black book he held in his hand. "May I ask what your business is here?"

"We're here to pick up chicks." Danny muttered as he looked at all the girls, winking at one who glanced his way. He was swiftly greeted with a smack upside the head by his friend.

"Ignore my idiot friend. We're actually here to see if we can join your club." Jack said, his voice confident as he held a hand behind his neck. Something he usually did when asking for something.

"Are you now?" The guy stopped writing, his interest peaking as he looked to the two in front of him, looking at them for the first time since they arrived. He shut his book and looked them up and down. "Your names?"

"I'm Jack Dawson. And the desperate loser is Danny Bradwell. We need to join a club to pass homeroom, and no other clubs will take us."

"And you've come to the end of your ropes and wish to join us here at the delightful Host Club. We're honoured." The man said, his voice dripping with hidden sarcasm. His eye roll was unable to be seen by the pair due to the white glare ever present over his glasses lenses.

"So...can we join?" Danny asked hesitantly, his gaze straying away from the girls of the room for the first time. His smile hopeful as he looked slightly down at the man in front of him.

"As happy as we would be to accept, we decline." The guy said, with a cheerful smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Jack Dawson, lives with his five brothers, father owns Dawson Chocolatiers. The family isn't very well known, and isn't plugged into the social ladder much, but you remain in class 1-B because of your grades. Had your family name been a stronger name in the social ladder then you would have been admitted into class 1-A. Doesn't sound impressive thus far."

"M-man...that's more than a little creepy..." Danny stuttered as he froze up.

Jack on the other hand paled. What other things could this guy know about him?

"Daniel Bradwell, only slightly known in the social ladder because your mother had ties to the royal family in England, thus when the name is mentioned in conversation it isn't completely ignored. Your grades are average, putting you in class 1-B. But you're in the bottom of your class, any slip up in an exam and you'll be downgraded to class 1-C. Not at all impressive, such as the case with Dawson."

"Dude. So not cool." Danny exclaimed fear written on his face.

"Woah! Okay. We get it. We're not welcome here." Jack sighed, regaining his cool. "It's fine, we'll just leave if you want us to leave so bad."

"Thank you, enjoy your day." the guy said with a pleasant smile as he walked off once again.

Jack and Danny turned around, leaving the way they came.

"M-man that guy was creepy..." Danny sighed, once they closed the door.

"We're not giving up just yet." Jack said, his arms folded and his jaws flexed. He wasn't one to get angry easily but now he was livid. Just who gave that guy any right to poke around for other peoples' personal information!

"What?! Why? Didn't you hear that creepozoid back there? No way." Danny reasoned, also opting to fold his arms. "I mean, I get it for the chicks in there man. But we could just go to a dog park or something."

"He pissed me off! That's why!"

Danny sighed, realising that there was no chance to reason with his friend when he got angry. The two had started to walk towards their lockers ready to collect their stuff for the day. "And how else are we going to join?"

"We ask the other members. There are meant to be seven there, right? Well, we track them down and ask them. One of them has to be the president. If it turns out that the freak with the glasses is the president, then we can give up."

Danny heaved another sigh. "Fine. Where do we start, scheme-lord?"

* * *

"Okay, so they call the Hitachiin twins the little devils of the Host Club. Devils love pranking and thus we're going to prank _them_. They'll either get angry and we'll enter a pranking war with them, or they'll just laugh and ask us to hang out with them. Either way, we'll strike up a conversation or argument that's when we ask to join."

"Sounds good." Danny nodded. "But why the hell am I the one holding the string?!"

"Because for starters you're taller. Secondly, I thought of the plan. And third because my arms would ache for holding it for as long as we need." Jack explained as he continued on his game of Pokémon on an archaic looking game-boy. He had been playing it for a solid two hours straight, a new record for him. Worth missing two classes for it.

"What?! Those are lame excuses! You hold the damn thing." Danny exclaimed in anger and he pushed the string to Jack's face, his hands cupping around the gaming device.

"No, go away." Jack said, swatting at his friends hand. "I'm almost finished battling this gym."

"Dude. You're just being lazy." Danny said, folding his arms. "I'm going to let go."

Jack didn't even bother looking up. "You wouldn't dare."

"Watch me." Danny said, his voice calm as he let go of the string, far before the twins had even come close to them. Unfortunately, a teacher had happened to walk underneath and thus the glue and various glitter colours landed all over her. "Shit."

Jack looked up with wide eyes before he yelled. "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES." Abandoning his gym battle.

* * *

"So what's the plan?" Danny asked, he held a box in his hands as the two were peering around the corner of the courtyard. "Please tell me that it's a better plan than the last one."

Jack rolled his eyes and ignored his friend's comment. "From my information in which I picked up from the lovely girls in 1-B, Mitsukuni 'Hani' Haninozuka can't say no to cake. Especially strawberry cake. We're going to 'accidentally' run into him and initiate conversation. Sat we're going to take these strawberry cakes to the club we're going to join, but them say we haven't decided on a club."

"And if you're right, he'll invite us to the Host Club! Good plan." Danny grinned.

"Here he comes! C'mon let's go." Jack whispered to his friend, pushing him out from behind the statue they had hidden behind. The two then walked forwards until they had "accidentally" walked into Hani.

"Oh, I'm really sorry lil dude!" Danny said, as he picked up the box once again.

"It's no worries!" the small blonde replied before he skipped along.

The two just stood there staring at him as their chance walked away.

"Damn, and I really thought that one would work." Danny muttered.

* * *

"Are we still formulating plans or should I just stop asking?" Danny sighed.

"I'm not giving up that easy, this one's really simple actually. I'm going to go over to the tall guy over there, ask him what club he belongs to then ask if I could join. He's friends with the small blond dude that we walked into ten minutes ago."

"Sounds cool, but lemme use your game-boy." Danny said, sitting on a bench.

"Fine, just don't break it." Jack sighed, passing the electronic over to his friend before taking a deep breath and approaching the tall guy who seemed to be waiting for someone. "Uh...excuse me?"

The guy turned his head down towards Jack, "Yeah?"

"Uh, you're Takashi Morinozuka right?"

The guy nodded.

"You're in the Host Club, right?"

He nodded once again.

"Do you think I could join up?"

The guy shrugged.

"Oh. Uh. Okay. Thanks. Um. Bye." Jack said awkwardly before he walked away.

"You get in?" He asked without even looking up.

Jack heaved a sigh. "Maaan these guys must really not want people in their club."

"Eh, let's just give up. They sound pretty boring anyway."

Jack was persistent. He wasn't going to give up until he asked everyone in the club. "But dude." he started. "You won't be able to hook I with any of the cute girls they seeerrvveee."

Jack smirked, he knew he had his friend on a hook. After all there was no way that Danny could resist the offer of an all access pass to hit on girls.

"...Fine."

* * *

"I'm not even going to ask." Danny sighed as they followed a brown haired male.

"Oh you better. This one is all you." Jack smiled up at his friend innocently.

"Wait, what?" Danny's head snapped down to look at his friend confusion plastered all over his face. "What're you wanting me to do?"

"Work your magic on him." Jack shrugged. "You're charismatic man, ask if you can go join or something. Flirt if you have to, apparently this guy has another one after him too so I dunno maybe it'll work or something."

"But, I'm not the gay one of us two!" Danny whined as his friend pushed him forwards.

"Too bad, you don't want to get your parents angry for flunking the easiest class right? Suck it up and just do it already! I thought up every other plan." Jack protested.

"FINE! Just get off me." Danny sighed as he walked towards the guy. "What's his name?"

"Haruhi Fujioka if I believe correctly."

"Alright. Wish me luck dude." Danny sighed, running a hand through his hair and checking his breath. He then strode up to Haruhi with his usual charismatic smile on his face. "Hey there man, Fujioka right?"

"Haruhi" seemed to blink up at Danny in confusion. "Yeah." He nodded.

Danny's heart jumped. The idea of hitting on a guy definitely didn't appeal to him. He chickened out.

"UH NEVER MIND SEE YOU AROUND." He blurted out before almost sprinting back towards Jack. Jack could only slap his palm to his forehead as he watched the display. Of course.

Haruhi looked back at Danny confusion written on his face before he shook his head, moving to continue on his way.

"What was that?!" Jack exclaimed, his voice slightly hushed as he stared at his friend.

"I got scared!" Danny cried. "I don't hit on dudes! I don't like leading them on if they actually _are_ gay. Then I feel like an asshole. Besides, he was too cute to be lead on."

"Dude. Are you sure you're straight?" Jack chuckled.

"Dude. I can appreciate looks when I see them. After all, you're super fucking hot, bro. No homo and all that." Danny laughed.

"No homo, you homo."

"How many is left anyway?"

"Just one. And we'll have to go to the club room for him..."

* * *

"Welcome! Oh? And how may I help you handsome men?" The blond in the room smiled charmingly at the two.

"Oh! Woe is me!" Jack exclaimed dramatically from his position where he laid on the floor, his hand outstretched as he reached towards Tamaki, an over the top expression of woe on his face.

"Woe it us!" Danny chorused, also in the same position as his friend.

"What's wrong? Can I help you two?" the blond asked, rushing over to the two boys.

"Could you?" Danny asked in a hopeful voice, "Maybe..."

"You see...we've been rejected from every club in school. Not one of them will take us! All we want to do is make friends and have a full high school experience!" Jack explained before starting to fake cry. However, in his head he couldn't help but smirk beyond belief. He had been told that Tamaki was a sucker for sob stories. He couldn't say no when someone told him on.

Thus, this plan involved pretending to have a sad story, being over dramatic with it. Maybe add a few tears into the mix and bam. One hundred percent increase on the chance to get in.

"Oh, that's horrible!" Tamaki cried. "I can definitely help! You see, I'm the president of the Host Club. We'd love to have you join!"

Behind him on a sofa, a bespectacled dark haired man sighed.

"Really? Oh, bless your kind heart!" Jack grinned as he jumped up from the floor, helping his buddy up afterwards.

"Success!" Danny grinned, before holding his hand out for his friend. Jack grabbed the hand and did the "should hand bump" handshake, their usual celebration of success.

"Heck yeah it was." Jack then turned back to the blond. "I'm Jack Dawson, and this is my best friend Danny Bradwell."

"Welcome to the Ouran Host Club! My name is Tamaki Suoh, the King of the club. This is Kyoya Ootori, he's the vice president, and organises the club's budget and such." The blond introduced himself, before introducing the guy behind him. "We're both in class 3-A. The other members haven't arrived yet, but we'll be sure to introduce you to them when they do!"

Jack couldn't help but grin. For some reason, his heart raced with excitement. He would usually be cautious when branching out and trying to make new friends, but this was a fresh start. No one but Danny knew who he was, and no one would find out.


	3. He Has a Secret?

**Title:** It's Not a Mask  
**Summary:** Jack doesn't wear a mask, who he is at school is the real him. He's not hiding his gender, nor is he in the Host Club because of a debt or blackmail of any kind. He thought his life was pretty good when he was with the host club, but when his secret is revealed Jack will unwillingly become who he's not. This fanfiction is not about a girl pretending to be a boy. This is a story with a transgender protagonist, Jack is a female to male trans guy.  
**Warnings:** This fanfiction heavily involves transphobia and homophobia in the later chapters. If you're uncomfortable with either or are triggered by said things, then continue at your own risk.

**Chapter Length:** 1933 | **Total Length:** 6102

* * *

**Chapter III**_  
__He has a Secret?_

* * *

It didn't take long for the rest of the club members to arrive.

Haruhi shot Danny a look of amused questioning when he saw him in the club. Danny tried as hard as he could to look away and pretend not to know him. After all the greetings and introductions were out of the way, it wasn't long until the customers arrived.

"Welcome my lovely ladies!" Tamaki greeted the girls, earning a chorus of giggles from the audience. "As you may have noticed, we have two new faces among us. They are Jack Dawson and Danny Bradwell from class 1-B, if you would like something different from our usual round up, then please request them."

"They there, ladies. Gotta say, you're all looking super fine today." Danny cooed with a wink, his voice smooth and charismatic. Jack would easily call it his seduction voice, he used it every time he wanted to seem hotter than he actually was. Danny held a small smirk on his features. He was looking forwards to hosting, easy way to flirt with girls and not get hit for it!

There were more than a few girls who giggled and whispered to their friends. The response did nothing to dull Danny's smirk.

"Um...Hi?" Jack greeted, feeling more than a little nervous. "Hope that we can...hang out?" He wasn't very good at trying to flirt. There was a few "aww!"s and giggles from the group. Jack had to fight the small blush that was all too eager to show itself on his cheeks.

"And now we get onto the usual, ladies please see Kyoya to book your host for the day and then visit during your allocated times." Haruhi spoke up with a smile.

Next thing that Jack knew, he was sat on one of the couches with his best friend by his side as he tried to entertain a group of girls. Danny had been doing a good job, flirting left, right and centre and Jack could swear out of the corner of the eye Tamaki was looking like someone was going to replace him.

"So, Jack what do you like to do?" A guest, Mio, asked.

"Oh. Well, I play games. And stuff when I'm home."

"Ooo, what kind of games?" Her friend Azusa asked with a sparkle in her eye. Jack could tell that video games seemed to be an interest of her, his courage grew a little as he realised he could actually geek out.

"Well, all kinds of games really. I mainly prefer the games my brother designs, I like testing them before he released them." Jack smiled. "Do you play any games, Azusa-chan?"

The girl giggled. "Sometimes. Though I don't usually have the time."

"I'd love to play some games with you. It sounds like that would be loads of fun." Jack grinned at the girl, making her blush slightly. In actuality, he just wanted an excuse to play games at the club.

"Oh! Are any of you two hungry or thirsty? I could go get us some cake or tea?" Jack offered as he looked down to see that they didn't have anything.

"That would be lovely!" Mio grinned.

"Hey, wart-face." Jack turned to his friend, nudging him in the side. Danny stopped flirting with the one girl he decided to focus on and looked over his shoulder. "I'm getting the girls some cake and tea. Do you wanna ask her if she wants anything?"

"Well I want some cake. How about you, babe? Want some tea or cake?"

"Oh—uh...Cake would be wonderful." She grinned, slightly dazed. Jack fought the urge to roll his eyes.

"Then how about you get us a slice of chocolate cake and we'll share." Danny said to his friend before winking back to the girl. She sighed dreamily.

"Okay then, it seems I'll be right back ladies." Jack smiled to his customers.

"He seems pretty boring as a host." Hikaru muttered to his twin.

"The customers seem to like him though. Don't know why."

"Well, I think he seems nice." Haruhi commented as he walked by. To him, he would welcome someone normal in this weird club. "The other one is seems nice too. Weird. But nice."

"Haruhi you're not falling for him are you?!" Tamaki panicked, sliding over in zero seconds flat the moment he heard him compliment Danny.

Haruhi couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Of course not, senpai. I just think he's nice. I've only just met the guy."

"Phew!" Tamaki sighed as he wiped his forehead, his panic subsiding.

"That one seems a little bit more interesting." Kaoru pointed out.

"Yeah, that girl looks completely in love." Haruhi agreed.

"But he doesn't have the same class as I show!" Tamaki whined, "But he's got the same shtick, I don't get it!"

"Maybe he's something like the ladies man type." Hikaru snidely suggested.

"Hmm...yes! That's completely different to the Princely type!" Tamaki nodded, his mood improving in an instant, a grin returning to his face. Haruhi once again rolled his eyes before going to the back room to prepare some tea for his upcoming customers. There he found Jack looking at the cake with a cake slicer in his hand, his gaze steady as if contemplating something.

"You alright there?" Haruhi asked with a smile.

"Huh? Oh yeah! I'm just debating what size slice the others are expecting." He chuckled nervously. "I don't want to seem parsimonious by giving them small slices, but I also don't want to overwhelm them by giving them large slices."

"If I may?" Haruhi smiled at Jack pointing to the cake slicer. Jack passed him the tool, and Haruhi began to cut a slice. "I found that this slice works as the norm, and over time I remember the regular customers preferences."

"Oh! Thanks man." Jack smiled before slicing two more out of a similar size. He then placed them on a silver tray that held a tea pot and three cups.

"No problem, it's nice not being the newbie in the club. You seem to enjoy it."

Jack chuckled a little. "Yeah, I mean. I'm not a good flirter, but it's nice to see people happy. Besides it's a good place for Danny to flirt and do his favourite thing without being slapped." He laughed.

Haruhi found himself laughing too. "Yeah, he seems to be the type to do that."

"Well, I better get back. Thanks for the help." He nodded before walking back out the door.

* * *

The day started to draw to a close, and the hosts were cleaning up the club room. When the obnoxiously loud sound of gears could be heard and an over the top laugh rang out, Jack and Danny jumped. The other hosts seemed to be completely unphased by the whole ordeal, seemingly it was a regular occurrence.

Danny looked over to where the noise was coming from and completely dropped the sofa he and Jack were carrying. After all, it wasn't everyday that you saw a teenaged girl rotating out of the freaking floor.

"Jesus Christ." Jack cursed under his breath as he placed a shaking hand over his rapidly beating heart. Always easy to shock, he stared up at the woman with wide eyes.

"I see you've gained some new hosts!" The girl cried as her eyes laid upon Jack and Danny. The two looked at each other slowly with confusion, they were perplexed to see that the others thought nothing of the girl's sudden appearance.

"Yes! They're the newest in the Ouran Host Club." Tamaki said with a large grin. "And great timing Renge! We were just debating what their types were, want to throw in your thoughts?"

"No we weren't." Hikaru murmured. It wasn't that he disliked the newcomers, he just didn't see why the club needed any more members. The group that they currently had worked well, why add more?

"And I can definitely help with that! I heard from my friends that Danny's approach is rather similar to the Princely type, though it lacks direction and is thrown around without regards to feelings or thoughts. Simple enough, definitely would be classed as a 'womaniser type'."

Danny shrugged nodding slightly, he didn't have too much pride. He admitted that was essentially his shtick freely. He liked doing it.

"Jack is a bit more of an odd one. He was definitely described as polite, kind of awkward, and a geek about games. I'd probably say that he's the 'Awkward Gamer type'."

Jack's ears burned as he heard his type. Sure he liked games, but had he really come across as awkward? He didn't think he acted that peculiar. He looked away as he heard Danny giggle at him.

"Wait a second, what's your second names again?" Renge asked, aiming the question more towards Jack, a look a pure curiosity on her face.

"Um. Dawson?" Jack stated, his voice making it sound like a question.

Renge kept staring at Jack for a while, as if she was trying to solve a puzzle that was written on his face. After a second, she shrugged passing it off as a coincidence. The last time that Renge had met anyone that seemed to be close in name to Dawson was Jacqueline Dawson.

Kyoya seemed to be alerted to the chance to snoop and noted it down as a point to look into later.

* * *

It was now later.

Kyoya had decided to stay late at the club, mainly as he had already set up working and it would be more trouble than it was worth for him to head home and just set up once again. Besides, he was close to being done.

He was just about to shut down his laptop, before his gaze caught sight of a note he had written down earlier. "Renge seemed to recognise Dawson. Research more into him."

The sentence had been calling to him as he worked, he paused for a moment for clicking on his informational archive program. He entered the password – a rather long and complex one for added security – and waited for the program to load properly.

He quickly inputted "Dawson" into the search bar before he pressed enter. The archive displayed all the relevant files he had on the name. A file named Dawson Chocolatiers, another named Mark Dawson. He searched the Mark Dawson file. It displayed his birthday, his age, the history of his company, marital status (widow), and his children.

He had more children than the average family would have with a total of six. Five sons and one daughter. He looked through the names of the children, searching for "Jack".

Taro, Jiro, Hibiki, Yukio and Kiyoshi. He furrowed his brow. Did he find the wrong family? How peculiar to not list Jack under his children. Perhaps he had mistooken Jack Dawson for another person with the same last name. Kyoya was just about to shut down the program before his eyes ran over the last child's name.

_Jacqueline._

He raised an eyebrow before clicking on the picture to expand and show itself. It displayed a photo of the whole family, in the middle there sat a young girl. Kyoya smiled slightly, for the girl that sat there held a striking similarity to their very own Jack Dawson.

Things were going to get interesting at the club.


	4. A Trip to Haruhi's?

**Title:** It's Not a Mask  
**Summary:** Jack doesn't wear a mask, who he is at school is the real him. He's not hiding his gender, nor is he in the Host Club because of a debt or blackmail of any kind. He thought his life was pretty good when he was with the host club, but when his secret is revealed Jack will unwillingly become who he's not. This fanfiction is not about a girl pretending to be a boy. This is a story with a transgender protagonist, Jack is a female to male trans guy.  
**Warnings:** This fanfiction heavily involves transphobia and homophobia in the later chapters. If you're uncomfortable with either or are triggered by said things, then continue at your own risk.

**Chapter Length:** 3189 | **Total Length:** 9291

* * *

**Chapter IV**_  
A Trip to Haruhi's?_

* * *

"W-what are you two doing in the same bed?!" Tamaki shrieked making Jack bolt upright on the bed in panic. He opened his eyes and saw the blond, his panic quickly morphing into annoyance. "And why is Danny completely naked?!"

"Why are you here, Tamaki-senpai?" Jack grumbled, rubbing at his eyes.

"Have you two had sex?!" Tamaki once again shrieked, horror laced his voice. Panic plastered on his face as he voiced his thought.

Danny looked at Jack with furrowed brows. Jack also turned to stare at his best friend. The two stared at each other intensely, seemingly having a silent conversation before they burst out laughing.

"PFFFFT! Sex? With him? In his dreams!" Danny howled.

Jack felt his face burning with embarrassment. "I wouldn't dare! He's such a damn loser."

"Also, dude keep your voice down. I have a little sister in the house." Danny reprimanded Tamaki after he calmed down from his laughing fit.

"Big bro! Why is there lots of cute boys downstairs and why is there someone in here yelling about having sex?" A girl called as she appeared in Danny's open door.

"Oh, Karlie. Those must be the people in my club. And that's an idiot who thought me and Jack were more than best friends." Danny laughed slightly. Completely recovered when speaking with Karlie. It didn't surprise Jack, his best friend doted on his little sister every chance he got. Whether it was appreciated or not didn't matter.

Tamaki looked to his right and saw a girl who must have been in middle school. She looked completely unrelated to Danny, what with her near bone white skin and platinum blonde hair. She wasn't dressed for the day, but had one headphone in her ear that Tamaki noticed was playing a song from some foreign pop boy band. She wore a pink shirt with "I (heart) One Direction" on it – possibly the band Tamaki could here – and some pajama bottoms with little bunny white slippers.

She rolled her eyes. "You're in a club with weird people, big brother. Cute, but weird people." She left chuckling as she thought of her brother and his best friend as closer than best friends.

Danny sighed before looking at Tamaki. "So is breaking and entering a hobby of yours?"

Tamaki looked as if he didn't understand the question. Danny rolled his eyes and rephrased his question, realising that the blond was actually severely oblivious. "What're you doing over at my place?"

"Well, the club and I were curious to what your house looked like, so we came over!" Tamaki grinned.

"Urgh." Jack groaned before falling back onto the bed. He pulled the covers over his head, still slightly dying of embarrassment over the mere suggestion of sleeping with his best friend. Regardless of whether it was a simple misunderstanding or not.

"Then call me and ask?" Danny said with a raised eyebrow. "Who invited you in anyway?!"

"We caught your parents on their way out. They let us in."

Danny sighed. Of course they did. They were the type of people to do that after all, the kind of parents that someone could run up to and say that they were friends with their kid and his parents would help him out no problem.

He moved to get out of bed and for a moment Tamaki started to panic thinking that he would be getting to know his new club member a little bit more than he would like. He sighed in relief when he realised that Danny was wearing shorts.

"Alright then, shoo whilst we change." Danny said, pushing Tamaki out of the room and locking the door when he was out.

"Is he gone?" Jack asked, peeking out from under the covers.

"Yup, you can get out and change now." Danny said, walking over to his wardrobe and pulling out a blue long sleeve t-shirt and skinny jeans. "You want to borrow some of my stuff?"

"Nah, thanks though. Yukio gave me some new threads." Jack smiled, pulling out a beige plaid shirt that he chose to wear over a white t-shirt. He too donned a pair of skinny jeans before leaving the room with a fully changed Danny. The two traversed the stairs down to the living room where they found every member but Haruhi sitting.

"Is this a regular thing you guys like to do? Like, come over to people's homes unannounced?" Danny asked as he reached the bottom step. "Because it's incredibly rude."

"Well, pretty much." Kaoru shrugged.

"We do it to Haruhi all the time." Hikaru commented. "It's not as interesting this time because you're not a commoner."

"I am. Just not the garden variety of commoner – a well of one." Danny shrugged. "My family can afford to send me and my sister to Ouran and still have quite a bit of money to splurge out."

"Yeah, like we said. Not really a commoner." Kaoru sighed.

Danny rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Whatever, I guess I should offer you stuff. Want any drinks? I assume you've already had breakfast before coming, so I'm gonna fix up me and Jack's food."

"Tea would be lovely!" Tamaki grinned.

Danny shrugged once again, the rest of the club would most likely wanting tea also. He then went to go prepare beverages before starting on making several slices of French Toast.

Jack decided to sit with the club to make sure they didn't be too nosy.

"This place is so cozy! It's a lot bigger than Haruhi's apartment but not nearly as big as the Suoh estate." He commented, looking around the room in its entirety.

"These Chinese ceramics are certainly impressive. They seem to be of high quality despite their age, truly a thing to be envious of." Kyoya commented, admiring Danny's parent's collection that was in an display case.

"How come Danny looks nothing like the rest of his family?" Hikaru wondered aloud as he observed the photo collection on the wall.

"Oh..." Jack spoke up, putting his hand over the back of his neck out of nervous habit. The club's attention was grasped as they heard Hikaru's remark get a response, as Jack hadn't responded to anyone else's comments. "That's because he's not biologically related to them, he's adopted."

"Oh." Hikaru muttered, his question had halted all conversation in the room.

There was silence for a moment. The others just couldn't think of what to fill the air, what could you possibly say to that without coming off as rude? It was completely silent until Danny spoke up.

"It doesn't bother me." He said placing a tray on the coffee table before pouring the tea. "I think of Kairi and Arthur as my real parents. They've always loved me like I was their own, they treat Karlie the same way. We were without a family before they took us in, but now together we're like a normal family. And we all love each other the same anyway."

Tamaki was clinging to the ashen haired teen in an instant. "Hey! I have tea in my hands!" He warned as his grip jostled slightly. He squirmed as he tried to get out of the blond's suffocating grip. Danny sighed as he put the tea down and walked back into the kitchen, walking around as he hoped Tamaki would just let go eventually.

Jack – having already dealt with the awkward conversation years ago – bit into the toast without thinking he needed to speak up. There wasn't really anything to say.

"So how did your family afford the tuition for Ouran Danny-chan?" Hani asked, swiftly changing the subject when Danny returned now Tamaki-less. He went to start pouring the tea into the available cups.

"You mean because my parents aren't business people? Well, Kairi's parents were well off, as were Arthur's parents. A little over two years after I adopted they got extremely lucky. Both won first prize in two huge lotteries. And we've just been living on that ever since." Danny shrugged taking a sip of his tea. "I mean, I know it won't last, but they're careful with their savings. We're not frivolous and waste our money like actual rich people."

Jack half listened to the story, he had heard it many a time. He liked being around Kairi and Arthur, they were very loving and accepting people, always jumping to include Jack in everything. He absent-mindedly wondered what time his father would be returning today from his business trip and almost choked on his French toast. He probably had around six hours to prepare and tip the maids so they wouldn't rat him out to his father that he hadn't been home in three days. He swiftly hurried to finish his breakfast with a few more bites before running his plate into the kitchen.

"Unfortunately, as much as I would love to stay here with you guys. I have to go. My father's holding this thing and I need to get back to prep for it." Jack partially lied.

"That's unfortunate. Perhaps tomorrow we should visit your house?" Kyoya suggested, sliding up his glasses with a gentle smile on his face. Something Jack had already come to know as the 'I know something and you should be scared' look. It made him gulp with great unease.

"Uhh! That would not be good. We're currently renovating and everything is all over the place! You'll have to come round when it's done, however." Jack said, slightly hurried. Danny looked over at Jack with a slight look of pity.

"I'll see you at the club on Monday then." Jack smiled, after he returned back down the stairs with the backpack on his back. The club then bid him a farewell, as he hopped onto the bicycle he had unchained from Danny's fence. He then started to pedal down the street, if he didn't tire himself out too early in the ride then it would take him just under twenty minutes for him to get back.

All was going well, and it didn't take long for Jack to hit his pace with him enjoying the wind run through his hair and against his face. He beamed with happiness, also, because he was making record time.

That was until some idiot pulled out of his driveway without looking where he was going. He just appeared in front of Jack's front wheel, thus launching Jack clear over the handle bars. The idiot braked in shock before hurriedly exiting the car. "Oh my god! Kid, are you alright?" He asked, worried he'd have to go to court or something.

"Jack?!" A familiar voice called. Jack lifted his head to see Haruhi rushing towards him. He put the grocery bags he was carrying down before placing a gentle hand on his friend's shoulder as he carefully looked over his friend. "You're not seriously hurt are you?"

"Urgh." Jack groaned slightly. "No not really – I don't think so." He turned over and sat up, looking at his knees. Badly grazed. And his elbows weren't any different. "Father's going to kill me..." He muttered.

"Need a hand getting up?" Haruhi asked the boy, who looked to be in pain.

"Nah, thanks though." Jack said with a smile, he stood and turned to inspect the damage his bike had endured. "Aw man! The front wheel is completely bent. There's no way I can ride this back now."

Jack turned back to the man who hit him. "Bastard, you wrecked my bike!"

"Hey, you were the one who rode right into it!" The man yelled back.

"You didn't look before reversing! Not my fault you hit me!" Jack argued back, picking his bike up and moving out of the way grumbling all the way.

"You're welcome to come and rest a bit at my place if need be." Haruhi offered, picking up the groceries at his feet. "I mean until you can get a different way back."

"Thanks man. I'll have to give my bro a call. He should be coming back from a business trip in an hour." Jack adjusted his bike pulling it up to move on its rear wheel making it easier for him to push.

As it turned out Jack didn't have to push the bike that far, it would seem that Haruhi's apartment was just around the corner. Chaining the wrecked bike to the railing outside Haruhi's door, said guy started to make tea whilst Jack called his brother and fully inspected the damage the fall had done with a small mirror.

"Aw man, there's another on my cheek." Jack whined, staring at the graze that covered his left cheekbone. "This isn't going to help me at the club, even though I doubt my looks were my main selling point." He sighed.

Haruhi chuckled slightly. "It doesn't look too bad. Don't worry, it'll heal in a week or two." Haruhi placed the tea cups on the table before disappearing once again, he then placed a box in front of Jack before sitting down.

Jack looked at the box with interest before Haruhi opened it up to reveal a medical kit. Jack nodded in understanding as he reached for some disinfectant wipes. "Thanks again dude."

He smiled at his friend before he wiped at his scrapes wincing slightly as he went. He then pulled out a skin coloured plaster – or band-aids as he learned the Americans called them – before placing multiple over his grazes.

"No problem," Haruhi smiled back. He was glad he took the slightly longer route back from the supermarket today, had he have taken the usual route he wouldn't have come across Jack when he needed the help.

"Oh, who's this?" Jack asked as a portrait picture claimed his attention.

"Oh. That's my mom, she passed away when I was young." Haruhi said, taking a sip of his tea.

"I'm sorry." Jack responded, sadness tinted his voice. He paid his respects before continuing. "I know what that feels like. My mom also passed away when I was young."

"I'm sorry, also." Haruhi nodded, understanding in his eyes.

"So you live in this place with your dad?"

"Yeah, it's just me and him. It may not be anything you might be used to, but it's home."

"Oh no, it's wonderful actually." Jack smiled. "If I'm honest one day, I'd like to get an apartment of my own. Similar to this one actually, and just live life as it comes. I'm not interest in staying rich like everyone else in Ouran. If I was rich, then I'd probably blow it all on helping other or some other sob story." Jack chuckled slightly.

"Though I suppose, I would miss living with my brothers. Having five older brothers always makes the house rather lively and entertaining."

Haruhi smiled and was about to reply, but was suddenly interrupted with the door opening. "Haruhiii~ I'm home!"

"Oh hey dad." Haruhi replied. Jack turned in curiosity to greet his friend's father. He wasn't expecting to see what appeared to be a woman. It completely threw him off actually. "This is a friend from school. His name is Jack."

"Uh, hi!" Jack grinned at the newcomer, quickly finding his senses. He extended his hand out for a handshake before speaking once again. "It's really nice to meet you."

"Oh how lovely, I can meet another one of Haruhi's school friends! I'm Ranka, Haruhi's father. Now listen here, don't be putting the moves on my Haruhi you hear!" Ranka laughed after shaking Jack's hand.

Jack went slightly red at the suggest, and muttered out a response similar to "I didn't even think about it" but Haruhi spoke up first.

"Daaad." He groaned.

Ranka just giggled, before he skipped off to his room.

_If Haruhi's dad is...then maybe I could tell Haruhi?...No. What if that happens again anyway? This...is hard._ Jack thought with a silent sigh as he stared down at his tea.

* * *

It didn't take long for Jack's brother to arrive, and Haruhi breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't appeared in a limo, but something that stood out less. Like a normal – but still fairly expensive – black car.

"You seem like a magnet for bad luck recently, eh little runt?" the tall man chuckled lightly as he stood in front of Jack.

Haruhi could easily understand the nickname, Jack was little over four inches taller than thin, but Jack's brother easily stood at six foot. With run meaning the smallest of a litter, Haruhi guessed that the rest of his family were probably a lot taller than him.

"Don't even tell me about it. I'm worried that I destroyed a whole mirror shop in my past life." Jack sighed, starting to shove the bike into the trunk of the car. He then turned back to Haruhi. "Thanks for letting me stay at your place for a bit. It was nice talking, especially outside the club. It was fun, she should hang out more." He grinned.

Jack then moved his gaze up to the balcony above them. "It was nice to meet you as well, Ranka!" he called up to the red-head who had been peeking out the door at them, apparently unknown to Haruhi. Ranka grinned and waved back.

Then with smiles all around, they parted their separate ways.

"So...who was your friend?" Jack's brother asked with a large grin on his face, his eyebrows raising and lowering at a quick pace. Jack's face burnt scarlet as he realised what he was implying.

"Oh my god, Taro. I do not want to bang him."

Taro laughed. It was a deep and husky laugh, and Jack side-eyed his brother with a scowl. Sometimes he couldn't believe how blunt and childish his full grown twenty-five year old brother was. If it wouldn't slaughter his hand he would love to punch that cocky grin off his face. Jack sighed, Taro was the most mature of his brothers and even then he was as childish as a five year old! Jack huffed with brief annoyance.

It was silent in the car for a few minutes until Taro spoke up. "So...does he know?"

Jack released a breath he didn't realise he had been holding, before he spoke. "No...but I am considering telling him. I'm just...terrified. I don't exactly want a repeat of last time..."

Taro glanced at his brother with slight sorry. "Well, there's no need to rush things. You just met this guy like a week ago, right? Get to know him more, and then when the time is right tell him."

Jack was silent as he took in his brother's words. "Yeah..." he mumbled. "Yeah. I'll tell him when the time is right." Jack said with new found optimism.


	5. Wet 'n' Unexpected?

**Title:** It's Not a Mask  
**Summary:** Jack doesn't wear a mask, who he is at school is the real him. He's not hiding his gender, nor is he in the Host Club because of a debt or blackmail of any kind. He thought his life was pretty good when he was with the host club, but when his secret is revealed Jack will unwillingly become who he's not. This fanfiction is not about a girl pretending to be a boy. This is a story with a transgender protagonist, Jack is a female to male trans guy.  
**Warnings:** This fanfiction heavily involves transphobia and homophobia in the later chapters. If you're uncomfortable with either or are triggered by said things, then continue at your own risk.

**Chapter Length:** 2543 | **Total Length:** 11834

* * *

**Chapter V  
**_Wet 'n' Unexpected?_

* * *

"Okay, do you mind telling me where you're taking us?" Danny grumbled, hating the fact that he wasn't being allowed to head home on this miraculous half school day.

"Boss thought it would be good for us to learn what a commoners water park is like." Kaoru started to explain.

"And that's where we're going?!" Jack squeaked, lifting his head from Danny's lap where he had previously laid just to bug his friend. Panic permeated through his voice and expression.

"Yup. Apparently it's pretty cool for a commoners thing." Hikaru shrugged.

Jack felt his blood run cold. "U-Uh...I-Is it optional? Like the water bit? Can't I just sit and watch?"

"Nope!" They grinned. Jack gulped hard, his brain rushing to think up excuses.

"We're heeeerrreee!" The twins called with a grin as the limo ground to a stop, they then turned to push the two new hosts out the vehicle as they landed with a thud. The twins grinned down at them.

Jack looked up at the building in front of them. It was fairly large, with large windows near the top. It could look like an office building if it wasn't for the maze of slides that were attached at the right hand side. Jack knew this place, he and his brothers went a few years ago, and he often returns with Danny every other month.

The twins then dragged the two inside – although Jack put up much more of a fight so that Hikaru essentially had to drag him by his ankles – where the rest of the Host Club members had been waiting.

"I got us tickets!" Tamaki yelled excitedly as he laid his eyes upon the twins, Jack and Danny. "Now we can see what a commoner's indoor water park looks like! Isn't this exciting?!"

"Yeah...very." Danny muttered sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. In his mind, this was just another trip to Wet 'n' Wild. His sister made him take her every other month essentially, she really adored this place. If anything, Danny was worried about Jack.

"Unfortunately, Hani and More couldn't make it. They apparently both had lectures they couldn't miss." Haruhi said with a sigh. "And Kyoya thought it was a waste of time, so it's just going to be the six of us." She knew the twins would probably drag her on one of the many slides, and Tamaki would probably do the same. She felt sorry for Jack and Danny, this was the first time that they had been dragged along anywhere.

"Well! I didn't have a chance to bring my swim shorts, so I'll just run back to Ouran to get them!" Jack explained with a smile before trying to escape to the outside world hopefully to never return here.

"Nonsense! I brought along a pair for you and Danny!" Tamaki grinned, grabbing the back of Jack's blazer as he left.

Jack felt his body loosen up. He had given in, he could improvise. Besides, it wasn't like he hated the place. Maybe there was a chance that he could get closer to the other hosts, that way he wouldn't feel as awkward when hanging around with them.

The six of them went into the changing rooms, all getting a stall each – except the Hitachiins who just used one larger stall, designed for parents which Jack thought was odd but didn't comment on. Danny idly wondered why Tamaki covered Haruhi's eyes all the way to the stalls. It was at this point did he realise that the strange club he had decided to join had the strangest members.

He couldn't have felt more at home.

* * *

Jack hesitantly pushed the stall door open as he looked around.

Danny smiled at him. "C'mon the others went on ahead." He nodded towards the exit of the changing rooms as Jack looked at his friend's attire. Of course it was nothing more than swim shorts and a pair of goggles situated on his head, ready to be used. He wasn't sure why he expected anything else, Danny didn't need to hide his sex.

Jack looked down at his attire. He had improvised, glad that he had decided to wear a dark grey t-shirt under his uniform today, he also wore a pair of blue swim shorts that Tamaki had provided him with. Thankfully, his eyes could withstand the chlorine and didn't need to wear any goggles. He proved to Danny last month that he looked like a complete dork whenever he wore them.

It didn't look like Haruhi had gotten very far into the area, he was currently relaxing by the side of the pool with his legs dipped in. Jack smiled at him and sat down beside him, however Danny was more than happy to be here and dive-bombed into the deep end before swimming over to his friends.

"Dude, you're so heavy that you splashed us with that." Jack chuckled, showing the large drops of water that had been absorbed by his shirt.

"Yeah but all that is just pure muscle." Danny said, flexing his not so subtle muscles. It was true, Danny definitely did look very fit and healthy. He thanked his interest in basketball and just working out at the gym. Jack rolled his eyes in response and kicked some water at the ashen blond.

"So where did the others get to?" Jack turned to ask Haruhi.

"Oh. The twins challenged senpai to a race on one of the two people waterslides, and I decided to stay here because I'm not a big fan of them." Haruhi shrugged. "I'm not sure why Kyoya-senpai suggested it to Tamaki if he's not going to turn up."

"Kyoya suggested this?" Danny asked with furrowed brows.

"Well, more or less." Haruhi shrugged. "Tamaki was whining because he didn't know how he'd be able to get to know 'his new sons' better, and Kyoya suggested this."

"I see..." Jack muttered, staring at Danny with a meaningful expression. '_He knows..._'

"So, you're not a fan of showing your skin?" Haruhi asked curiously as he motioned to the shirt that Jack was wearing.

"Uh," Jack laughed nervously. "Yeah, something like that...I mean it's just more comfortable y'know? How about you?"

Haruhi looked down at the shirt he was wearing. "Same thing really." He said with a shrug.

There was dual laughter behind the trio, catching Jack's attention. Sure enough there was the twins laughing at Tamaki as they approached. Tamaki looked mad as he folded his arms.

"Ha! Boss is a loser! Boss is a loser!" They teased, dancing slightly.

Jack chuckled slightly as he looked at Tamaki and he was mad. At this time, Jack thought that when Tamaki was mad, you could see the wheel turning in his head. The one gear that he had, he was ranting about something. Something along the lines of how the twins had cheated.

"It's not cheating when your opponent is an idiot." They grinned in unison as the trio finally got to the other Hosts.

"Guys, cut it out. Does it really matter who wins and who loses?" Haruhi sighed, already fed up of their bickering.

"Of course it does!" Kaoru cried as he mirrored his brother looking at Haruhi in mock horror.

"Especially since we were racing to see who gets to take you abroad first." Hikaru grinned.

Haruhi sighed and shook his head.

"Guys, I'm not actually sure you're allowed to decide that." Jack said with furrowed brows, he knew the three of them doted on/teased Haruhi, but they didn't have control over what Haruhi decided to do.

"Oh? Then are you saying you want to take Haruhi away from Japan?" The twins remarked in unison, each raising an eyebrow in questioning.

Jack's cheeks blazed at the suggestion. "No, I just think that Haruhi should be the one to choose. Besides, who's saying he wants to go out of Japan with any of you?" Jack said with a roll of his eyes.

"Whatever." The twins said with a shrug. They looked at each other, for a moment a light-bulb went off in their heads. "Jack! You should come with us on the Kamikaze!"

"What? Isn't that the one with the sixty foot drop?" Jack asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Yes! C'mon!" The two chorused, their grins spreading into a devious smirk. They threw their arms under Jack's own and hoisted him up, before dragging him away all the while Jack yelling out to Danny to help him.

"Have fun!" Danny called back, not actually caring. Jack had been on the Kamikaze once before, so it wasn't like he was asking help because he didn't want to do it. More because he was being taken against his will.

"Danny I hate you so much!" Haruhi, Tamaki and Danny heard just after the other half of the hosts rounded the corner and started to walk the stairs.

Danny in the mean time was just laughing to himself. Jack should be used to it, Karlie essentially drags him everywhere whenever he's around. Be it the waterpark or a museum, she'll be the one to drag him along with her.

"So you and Jack are close?" Haruhi asked Danny after a moment of silence. Tamaki sat down next to Haruhi, also curious about the question. Jack and Danny joined the club together, so it would make sense for them to be friends. He just wasn't sure if they were long-term friends or had met in class during the early days of school.

"Oh, yeah. He's been my best friend for just over seven years now." Danny grinned, as he put his hands behind him over the edge of the pool. "We met in elementary, and we just stuck together since. I'm pretty sure that there's nothing about that guy that I don't know."

"Aw, it must be nice having such a long time friend like that." Haruhi smiled.

"Yeah, it rocks." Danny grinned with a small laugh.

"That's beautiful!" Tamaki essentially yelled and wrapped his arms around Danny's neck, putting his head on top of the younger one's. "Your undying friendship is so sweet! I hope you're best friends forever!"

The hug/chokehold caught Danny by surprise, giving him no time to separate Tamaki from himself as he tried not to swallow any of the chlorine water. After all, Tamaki was pushing him down.

"Uh, senpai? I think you're killing him." Haruhi warned. He thought that if they were in an anime right now, she'd probably have the sweatdrop animation beside her head.

Just a moment later, there was a small slightly high-pitched scream from somewhere in the premises.

"Huh, that must be the twins and Jack on the ride." Tamaki muttered just after he realised Danny.

* * *

_Just a few moments earlier..._

"Hey! You guys! I _can_ walk there myself, you know!" Jack writhed as he fought against the twins' grip. He gave up however, as the trio neared the stairs to the waterslides. The two redheads grinned and quickly dropped Jack, making him plummet to the ground.

"Ow!" He grunted in pain, he stood up with his eyebrows furrowed in irritation. "You two are extremely unpleasant."

"We know!" They chorused as they started to climb the stairs. Jack liked the walk up the stairs, you got a great view of the waterpark. The lazy river going all around the main pool and the wave pool, the fake plants and trees that littered the indoor area making it look lively and vibrant. The kiddie area with small fountains, and water guns. Jack liked going here, it was refreshing and was completely different to the normal everyday routine. There were other indoor waterparks, but for Jack none would compare to this one. The only thing he wasn't keen on was the waterslides. Especially the Kamikaze.

The Kamikaze was an insane waterslide, with a 60ft straight drop with loops and turns. Jack hated it. He hated it even more when people were forcing him to go on it. At this moment in time, it was the twins forcing him to go. The line was extremely short. In fact, there was only one other person – besides the lifeguard – when they got there and they had immediately set off down the slide.

Hikaru and Kaoru pushed Jack to the front of their group, so that he wouldn't weasel out when the twins had already gone down. Jack sighed and got into position to go down the slide, just waiting for the lifeguard to give the signal.

"Uh, excuse me sir? I'm sorry but your shirt is just too baggy for this ride. I'm going to have to ask you to remove it or please exit the platform." The lifeguard said to Jack with an apologetic smile.

"Oh, okay. I'm sorry sir, then I guess I'll have to leave." Jack said awkwardly, starting to walk down the stairs again. _Yes! _He thought with happiness. _The twins can't force me to go on here anymore! _

"Nu-uh, you aren't getting off the hook that easily." The twins said catching up and wagging their finger at Jack before Hikaru stepped forwards towards him.

"W-what are you doing?" Jack asked, panic starting to creep into his voice as he backed up.

"Well you're not allowed to go down the slide with it on and you're not getting out of this so the shirt will have to come off!" Hikaru said as he pounced on the brunette, his hands going to the bottom of Jack's shirt.

"NO! Stop!" Jack yelled as he writhed under Hikaru's hands.

Kaoru nodded at Hikaru, leaping forwards to hold Jack's wrists. Now with Jack restrained, Hikaru grabbed the bottom of the shirt – remarking the fact there was two layers, one that was loose and another that seemed to cling to Jack's body – and thrust it upwards.

After less than a second, Hikaru froze and stared at Jack's chest.

"What is it Hikaru?" Kaoru asked as he noticed his brother's hesitance, his grip on Jack's wrists slackened. Jack seized his chance, he ripped his hands from Kaoru's grip, slapped Hikaru's face and pulled down his shirt in a matter of seconds. He lurched forwards with his arms folded against his chest and faced the twins.

"W-what were those?" Hikaru pushed out after a moment of silence between the trio.

Kaoru looked between his brother and the new host, completely confused. Both of their faces were scarlet red whilst Hikaru was still looking at Jack's chest in utter embarrassment. It didn't make sense, Hikaru had seen another guy's chest before, why would he be embarrassed to see Jack's...?

Then it hit him.

"Y-you've never seen boobs before?" Jack muttered through tight lips as he looked away with extreme determination. The twins' eyes were bulging.

"Go on your ride, I obviously can't. I'm going to go in the lazy river if you need me." Jack spluttered out before hurrying down the stairs.


	6. What Did You Say He Saw?

**Title:** It's Not a Mask  
**Summary:** Jack doesn't wear a mask, who he is at school is the real him. He's not hiding his gender, nor is he in the Host Club because of a debt or blackmail of any kind. He thought his life was pretty good when he was with the host club, but when his secret is revealed Jack will unwillingly become who he's not. This fanfiction is not about a girl pretending to be a boy. This is a story with a transgender protagonist, Jack is a female to male trans guy.  
**Warnings:** This fanfiction heavily involves transphobia and homophobia in the later chapters. If you're uncomfortable with either or are triggered by said things, then continue at your own risk.

**Chapter Length:** 3029 | **Total Length:** 14863

* * *

**Chapter VI**_  
__What did you say he saw?_

* * *

It had been a few minutes that Danny had been left alone with Haruhi and Tamaki. He was actually just enjoying being around them, they were quite fun and pleasant to talk to. Especially Haruhi. Danny looked up and saw Jack hurriedly walking towards the trio with a crimson red face.

"Hey, Jack. So did you go on the ride?" Danny asked, his eyebrow raised at the lack of water on his friend's shirt. Indicating that he most certainly did not go on it.

"Danny, wanna go on the lazy river with me?" Jack asked, trying to seem casual. Trying to make it seem like he wasn't mentally freaking out about what just happened at the top of the stairs to the Kamikaze.

Danny instantly caught on to the slight panic in his best friend's voice. "Okay." He muttered, he then turned to Tamaki and Haruhi. "I'll be back soon then I guess." He then put his hands on the side of the pool and pushed himself out, walking with great haste as he tried to catch up with his speedy best friend.

"So what's up?" Danny asked as the two shared a dual inflatable ring, the two slowly floating down the essentially barren lazy river. His eyebrows knitted tightly together in both confusion and worry, Jack would usually give an explanation before whisking him away from Haruhi and Tamaki.

"Hikaru...uh. He saw my boobs." Jack forced out through gritted teeth. Danny could just tell that his friend's cherry red face would be darkening in colour just admitting it. Danny's eyes widened and tried to figure out how he could have possibly seen them without pulling Jack's shirt and binder up forcefully. Seeing no other explanation, his regular breathing halted.

Jack watched as shock took a back seat whilst anger reigned centre stage on Danny's face. He moved towards Jack and whispered in a dangerously low tone. "Do I need to fuck someone up for you?"

"No! No!" Jack hurriedly reassured his companion as his arms flailed about in front of him. "I-I think it's fine..."

"Will he tell?"

"I'm not sure, but I hope he doesn't. I'm not sure if I'm strong enough to tell them I'm a guy at heart. I just don't want it to turn out like last time..." Jack said, his nails digging into his forearm as his recalled the memory.

"Do you want me to explain it to them?" Danny offered, his voice now softer. He was seriously worried about his friend, he knew how bad his fear could get. He was worried this incident would start to chip away at Jack's strong shield he had placed up against the world. Danny took a shaking intake of breath. He knew that if Hikaru told, then things were going to get severely uncomfortable within the Host Club.

"No. No...It's not that I would have difficulties getting it out. I'm just worried that they wouldn't understand..." Jack started to trail off, before he suddenly picked back up again. "You know how my dad is. No doubt if their parents thought the same way, then most likely they will have the same opinion. It usually is the case. I-I'll just let them call me a girl."

Danny said nothing. He didn't think it was wise of Jack to just leave things, they would have to accept him. And if they didn't then Danny would just do what he did last time and they would just leave.

"Alright then. But I just want to say, if things get too out of hand, I'm going to say something."

"No! Please..." Jack cried as he grabbed Danny's bare arm. He looked up at the ashen blond with large eyes, his facial features pleading with him.

"Alright." Danny finally nodded and Jack's grip loosened. "Alright, I won't say anything."

"Thank you Danny." Jack smiled up at him. He wiped his face and without a moment's pause, he dove into the water. His head resurfaced and he spat water at his friend like a fountain would do. He then laughed as the water hit his friend directly in the eye.

"Oh my god, you did not just do that." Danny said, his eyebrow raised and a smirk playing at his lips.

"Oh yes I did, now what are you doing to do about it?" Jack challenged, he laughed swimming backwards.

"This!" Danny said as he flipped the inflatable ring. He then dove under the water, picking Jack up bridal style.

"Wait – what are you doing?!" Jack yelled, his voice breaking slightly in panic as he started to writhe in his friend's grip.

"Oh, nothing!" Danny said with a mischievous grin, he was walking through the water with ease towards the edge. After getting out the river, Danny grinned further and tossed Jack mercilessly back into the flowing water. A large splash was the result of Jack breaking the water, and Danny's cackles could be heard even from underwater.

Jack's head broke the surface, his eyes formed a piercing glare he sent Danny's way. "I hate you so much, do you know that?"

"Yeah, but you love me regardless!" Danny grinned as he jumped back onto the inflatable ring, ready to continue their journey down the lazy river.

* * *

"..."

"So...Jack's a girl then." There was silence between the twins as they descended the stairs. To Kaoru, it was piercing and more than a little uncomfortable. He was there to hear Jack's question so, he could only guess that "guy" was a girl. Hikaru was the one who saw her chest, so Kaoru was the one to ask. More like double check, just so he had his facts right.

"Yeah." Hikaru muttered with a red face, he seemed to be distant. Whether it was a result of being given the new information or seeing Jack's breast, Kaoru didn't know.

"Oh, there's the boss and Haruhi." Kaoru pointed out as he motioned his head towards the duo who hadn't moved still. They had been in the waterpark for almost forty-five minutes and Haruhi still hadn't moved in all that time. Kaoru wondered if she was getting bored.

"Guys! You would not believe what we just uncovered." Kaoru blurted out, desperate to receive a different answer to the blankness that his brother was dishing out. Kaoru grinned at the hosts before not-so-subtly nudging Hikaru's side.

"Yeah, uh, turns out...Jack's a girl!" Hikaru explained, a hand covering his neck. Kaoru's eyes flittered back over towards his brother, slight concern washed over him as he realised Hikaru tended to use that position only when he was deep in thought, or was in the middle of an internal struggle. What could possibly be going through his brother's mind?

Haruhi and Tamaki just stared at the duo, Haruhi had kept a neutral expression, her feet still moving backwards and forwards in the water. Tamaki however, was on a different level. His eyes were bulging out of their sockets, his jaw so low that birds would gladly have made their nest in his mouth.

"H-How did you find that out?!" Tamaki finally pushed out, completely incredulous at receiving the news. In his mind ran a thousand different scenarios. They had heard Jack's too-feminine scream and decided between themselves he was female? Jack, unable to contain "his" secret of her gender anymore and confessed to the duo just as they were alone. Or...had they done anything...perverted to learn of her gender?

Hikaru's face blazed redder than a sunburnt man's bald head. Kaoru laughed nervously for his twin. "Let's just say that Jack couldn't go on the Kamikaze because of her shirt."

Tamaki's jaw shut and his head tilted to one side in questioning. Haruhi had still appeared to remain neutral. The news didn't surprise her, but she was curious as to why they had concealed their sex on purpose. Many possibilities flittered through her mind before she shrugged them off. If Jack really wanted Haruhi to know, then they would tell her. And besides, there was no point in asking herself endless amounts of questions – she'd just infuriate herself.

The group had moved on from where they had set up a near permanent residence on the pool side. Thanks to the dark blue t-shirt and professional waterproof binder Haruhi wore, she could go swimming and not just sit on the sidelines. The twins had given her the chest binder and insisted she wore it when disguising herself as a guy. They had already been in so many close calls before, and this way if anyone caught her getting changed, then they would just see a guy's vest top.

It was a while before Jack and Danny was reunited with the other hosts. Jack had calmed down, his fears drowned in the lazy river and his mask was thoroughly abandoned.

Haruhi could feel the atmosphere growing increasingly heavy. All six were outside the changing rooms, now completely changed back into their previous clothes and ready to leave.

"So...You're a girl." Haruhi pushed out, she needed to leave to get home in time to make her father's meal.

"...Yes." Jack muttered, purposely looking away from each of the other hosts. Choosing to fix his gaze on his shoes.

"Then why did you join the host club?!" Tamaki finally spoke up.

Jack flinched at the sudden outburst. "I didn't want to fail homeroom." A half-lie.

Silence enveloped the group once again, and Danny couldn't stand it. "Well, I have to go. And Hibiki will bite my head off if I don't get hi— her back in time."

Danny awkwardly smiled at the rest, whilst pulling Jack towards the exit.

* * *

Jack took a shaky breath and he stared upon his house. It was a rather large English Victorian-esque mansion with a beautiful gardens and abundant water features. Whilst Jack had always thought of his home as beautiful, when his father was home it may as well have been a prison of the cruellest kind.

Jack turned to wave goodbye to his best friend, thankful for the ride back. Danny gave him a reassuring smile, a silent promise that everything will be fine. Jack couldn't believe him, but was thankful anyway.

Jack turned back towards the mansion and walked up the long path. He was glad that his father wouldn't be back for an hour, he'd have a chance to pay off the staff who had seen him in his male uniform. He hoped that his brothers would be in, or at least Hibiki would be.

Jack hated to choose a favourite brother, after all each were very different to each other but Jack would have to say that he got along with Hibiki the best. Always supportive and was more than willing to have a three hour conversation about current games and ideas for his games in production. Kiyoshi was very much a suck up to his father, but regardless he played nice classical music.

Yukio was always ready to put on a mini rock concert for Jack, and his constantly changing girlfriends gave interesting conversations to say the least. Jiro was more than inspiring to be around, an aspiring scientist willing to change the world.

Taro was probably the brother that Jack respected the most. The eldest son and heir to Dawson Chocolatiers. The absolute second in command of the company and a wonderful listener. He's often expressed his desire to head the family and ensure that Jack was accepted by the family. Each time he said that, Jack couldn't help but feel his throat close up in gratitude.

"I'm home!" Jack called, walking into the large hall. A maid nodded to him and averted her eyes, the usual behaviour when Jack came home in clothes his father would not approve of.

"Hey, runt." Kiyoshi smiled as he walked down the stairs, his long term girlfriend Minako walking beside him. She smiled in greeting with a wave. "I was just gonna show Mina that piece I played you last night, want to come?"

"Hey Mina, no thanks Kiyoshi. I have to talk with Hibiki before Dad gets back, have fun though." Jack smiled at the two. He liked Minako, she was a rather calm individual but didn't pass up an opportunity to tease someone, she was a delight to have around at dinner.

Jack scaled the large staircase as he headed towards the second floor. Jack walked to essentially the end of the left hallway before knocking on the last door. Hearing a slightly muted "come in", Jack pushed down the door handle and closed the door behind him.

Hibiki's room rarely changed. The black haired male was always sat down at his desk, most likely coding his recent project or typing out design points. The room was nearly always a mess since Hibiki never liked anyone but his family in the room, he banned all staff years back. The bed was messy though, hadn't moved an inch since yesterday, no doubt Hibiki stayed up all night coding. He usually did whenever he was in the zone.

Hibiki swivelled around in his chair to look at Jack as he walked in. "Hey there runt, how'd your day go?"

Jack heaved a huge sigh as he fell onto the large bed.

"Oh boy, one of those days huh?" Hibiki muttered as he stood and walked over to his little brother, choosing to sit next to him. "Tell me all about it, man."

"The club that I'm in found out that I was born female." Jack pushed out as he closed his eyes tight. He knew that his brother would be outraged, it was sort of a double edged sword, having accepting brothers. They loved him dearly, but they were so protective that anyone who had hurt him, would get fire rained upon them.

"Oh man. That's a problem." Hibiki sighed as he placed his hand on his brother's head. "I guess it's going to be tough there for you now?"

"Yeah." Jack muttered, as he thought back to the club. "Danny wants me to tell them. They're pretty good people, and really fun to be around as well. But...all but one are from the super elite rich families."

Hibiki nodded understanding what his brother was implying.

"There's a chance that they would accept me, sure. But the probability is low, and I don't think I'm ready for another do-over quite so soon." Jack explained. "Besides, I doubt Father will let me transfer again. I got lucky because I was moving into high school."

"I know, runt. I talked to Jiro earlier today when he came home for lunch, and he reckons that in a year or two, he'll be made the head of the family. After that, you'll be completely free to be yourself."

Jack took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself down. The breath got caught in his throat as a knock on the door shocked him.

"Master Hibiki, Mistress Jacqueline, your father has returned home early." A maid called through the door. Jack's eyes flew open as he rushed to leave the room.

"Thanks Unagi-san!" Jack blurted out as he ran past and sprinted to his bedroom. He rushed to throw off his uniform, throwing it deep into the bottom of his closet. He hurried pulled on a pink dress that his father would highly approve of, and threw on his wig, thankful that no one had let slip the fact that it was a wig. Jack looked in the mirror to give himself a quick check.

Jack sighed, confirming that it wasn't Jack Dawson staring back at him. Jacqueline Dawson, the prised only daughter of powerful Mark Dawson. Jack wanted to vomit, the shoulder length hair was beyond uncomfortable and the dress made him want to walk over hot coals for ten minutes than to wear it. Jack carefully put on some small pink heels before a knock on the door interrupted him.

"Jacqueline?"

Jack opened the door, revealing his father. Mark Dawson was an English born rich man, inheriting his family's century old company he moved to Japan when they decided to branch out thirty years ago. Though Jack's mother was Japanese, he hardly inherited anything from her gene-wise besides her complexion. Mark looked down at his "daughter" with approval, he much liked it better when "she" wasn't rebelling against his wishes.

"Father," Jack bowed as he moved aside to let him him. Mark Dawson walked in as he looked around Jack's room. Hoping to find something out of place, something that he could find and scold his child for. Jack couldn't help but want to smile, he had learned a few tricks over the years at hiding things from him. There wasn't a way that he could know without someone tipping them off.

"I heard that you're settling in well at Ouran." Mark commented, looking out of the window.

"Yes, father. I'm currently the sixth ranking student in my class. The teachers are excellent and I'm finding my way around the school very well."

"Sixth?" Mark scoffed. "That isn't very good. Please aim to place in the top three, Jacqueline. Your brothers never once let their grades fall below third place."

Jack swallowed a lump in his throat. "I apologise father, but I believe that's not true. Yukio regularly was placed in twelfth place, and Hibiki was often ranked in seventh."

"Regardless, you must hold yourself to a higher standard Jacqueline. They will have their roles to play in the family's success, as do you. You will need to present yourself as a model daughter at Ouran, that way the Dawson family will be looked upon highly."

"Yes father." Jack nodded. He had heard the speech many a time.

"I will take my leave now, Jacqueline. I shall see you at dinner." Mark Dawson nodded before walking out of the room.

Jack felt drained of energy.


	7. How did she die?

**Title:** It's Not a Mask  
**Summary:** Jack doesn't wear a mask, who he is at school is the real him. He's not hiding his gender, nor is he in the Host Club because of a debt or blackmail of any kind. He thought his life was pretty good when he was with the host club, but when his secret is revealed Jack will unwillingly become who he's not. This fanfiction is not about a girl pretending to be a boy. This is a story with a transgender protagonist, Jack is a female to male trans guy.  
**Warnings:** This fanfiction heavily involves transphobia and homophobia in the later chapters. If you're uncomfortable with either or are triggered by said things, then continue at your own risk.

**Chapter Length:** 2846 | **Total Length:** 17709

* * *

_Author's note: Hi there! Sorry to post this here, but I've actually updated the previous chapters of this fanfiction. A couple of things have changed and scenes have been added. Specifically in chapters two and six. So I would definitely recommend that you read the previous chapters if you are returning to the fanfiction, but if you're a new reader: welcome! And you can proceed as normal. OH! Another warning, this chapter includes transphobic slurs and mild abuse. Read at your own risk, but yeah. Just thought I'd warn you if you are sensitive to either of these._

* * *

**Chapter VII**_  
__How did she die?_

* * *

Jacqueline Dawson knew a lot about herself considering she was so young. She knew that she loved toffee and honeycomb ice cream, she knew she loved climbing tees and playing games, she knew she loved t-shirt and shorts. And most of all, she knew she wanted to be male instead of female.

Jack was what he wanted to be called, never really liking his birth name anyway. He never knew how to bring it up, after hearing how his Aunt was shunned and disowned solely for the reason that she was born male but wished to be female. If given the choice, he would must rather stay with his aunt and be accepted immediately.

For years he struggled to get the words out of his mouth when one of the maids called him "Mistress Jacqueline", or when one of his brothers referred to him as "she". And to his surprise, when he did speak what was in his heart, all five of his brothers welcomed him with open arms. All glad to have a new baby brother. His mother was so happy that Jack had told them, and started to change everything with the name Jacqueline on to Jack.

Jack's only trouble was his father.

"F-Father? I just wanted to a-ask you...i-if you could call me Jack from now on...a-and refer to me as a boy?" Jack could barely stutter out, his fingernails digging deep into his forearm in an attempt not to cry from the fear his father wouldn't accept him.

A booming laugh. "Jacqueline that was a funny little joke, go back to you etiquette classes." And with a wave of his hand, Mr. Dawson returned to looking at the papers in his hands. The almost eternally present scowl returned to his face.

Jack stood firmly in place, telling himself that he wasn't to move until his father took him seriously. His nails dug deeper as the seconds dragged on.

A few minutes more, and Mr. Dawson put his papers down in frustration. "What else do you need to tell me, Jacqueline? I'm busy, so just make it fast."

"I-I'm serious a-about what I said...Father."

Mr. Dawson's expression hardened, his scowl intensifying. "If that is so Jacqueline, I will not cater to such an outrageous request. As I have told your mother once before, I will not allow for someone with the same last name as I to be a shemale, faggot or he-she. To accept it and comply to the whims of these...truly revolting requests would be to bring great disgrace to the Dawson name and to the company. I would rather your mother weep on my tombstone than to accept it." Mr. Dawson bellowed.

Each word that his father boomed Jack flinched, the words flying from the air and hitting him harshly in the in the face. Jack looked up at the towering figure of his father, terror set deep within his emerald irises, and salty tears threatening to burst free.

Mr. Dawson was not deterred from his outburst at the sight of his child's terror, it seemed to motivate him as he walked from behind the desk towards the eight year old child. "Is that clear, Jacqueline?!"

Jack was too terrified of the monster in front of him to respond. He thought his father loved him...why was he not acting like his mother and brothers had acted?

Fire danced across Jack's face as his father glared down at his son, arm raised. Jack was completely caught off guard by the inflicted injury and had fallen backwards.

Mr. Dawson stared down at his child, a fresh bright red hand print was painfully obvious. Crimson tinted his vision as he stared down at the child, he realised that he did not feel regret – only the need to punish his child for telling him that they were apart of a group in society he believed should be burned.

The doors to Mr. Dawson's study flew open, the mahogany doors creating a piercing bang on the walls.

"Mark, what on earth are you doing yelling so loud? Hibiki and I could hear you from all the way..." Mrs. Dawson trailed off as she took in the situation – her youngest on the floor and his father towering over him with a hand raised.

A familiar sight for the Japanese woman.

"MARKUS ALBERT DAWSON!" She cried. Hibiki behind her had understood the situation immediately and ran towards Jack, putting an arm around his shoulders.

Mrs. Dawson stormed up to her husband and gave him a shove with only enough force to move him back a few steps. She turned to look at Jack to inspect the damage, a crimson red cheek. Mrs. Dawson gasped, she knew it could be worse but this would only be the beginning.

"How _dare_ you harm our son! He has done nothing to deserve abuse from his own father!" Mrs. Dawson screeched as she glared at the ageing male, she knew that Markus Dawson was not the gentlest man on earth, not the kindest but to harm a child? She just couldn't believe it. Especially when she had told him of her abusive guardians.

Mr. Dawson scoffed. "I didn't harm one of our sons! I harmed my daughter who wants to be a disgusting he-she! She deserved to be shown that it wasn't acceptable! I was going my duty as a father and as a businessman."

"C'mon Jack..." Hibiki muttered as he tried to pull Jack to his feet. Being five years older, Hibiki knew that Jack had already suffered enough without hearing his father curse him into oblivion. It would only harm him further.

Jack didn't utter a word but instead, followed his brother's advice. He was still numb with the discovery that his father would actually hurt him.

The two brothers made it up to the youngest's bedroom where they sat on the bed. Hibiki turned to move Jack's hand away from his cheek, and winced at the sight. It was crimson red and might as well be painted on it was so bright.

Hibiki pressed a small button next to his brother's bed that he rarely used. As they waited for a maid to see the call, Hibiki picked up a cool glass of water and gently laid it on his brother's cheek, careful not to spill the contents. Jack sighed as his burning cheek was soothed by the chilled glass.

Silence donned the pair as Hibiki tried to comfort his younger brother. The maid came and went, quickly returning with an ice pack before hurrying back to her chores.

"You don't need father's approval, Jack." Hibiki stated suddenly. "He's a rotten father anyway."

"But he pays for our education, food, clothes and all our luxuries...He wouldn't do that unless he loved us...I _want _him to approve of me." Jack sniffed, close to tears.

Hibiki held back his rebuttal. He would have told his brother that farmers do similar things for their livestock and people do that for others as to get something out of them for it. Saying those things, however, would only reinforce the fact that the situation was harsher than the eight year old could understand.

"Jack, everyone else in our family loves and accepts you! Taro, Jiro, Kiyoshi and Yukio, Mother and I. Not to mention all the really nice staff who help us out." Hibiki tried to reason, just praying that his brother would start to feel better.

A small sob escaped Jack's lips as he placed his head against Hibiki's chest. Unable to contain it any longer, Jack wailed into his brother's shirt. "But I want father to accept me..."

"I know...I know..." Hibiki pushed out as he held his brother close. Unable to do anything but be a shoulder to cry on right now, he hugged his brother tightly. He would do anything to have his little brother accept on his journey through life.

* * *

Jack was still known as Jacqueline at school. His father refused to grant a name change, but thanks to his mother's rebellion, Jack at least was allowed to have short hair.

"Class, today is very special because I want you to welcome our new student. He's all the way from America and doesn't know very much Japanese, but I hope you will all welcome him. Daniel,_ would you like to introduce yourself_?"

The small boy looked up to the teacher with wide eyes. Jack could tell that he was scared, no doubt if he didn't know much Japanese. Jack was glad his father had made it a point to teach him English, maybe he would talk to this boy.

The boy turned to the class, his ashen blond hair completely messy. "Uh. Hello, my name is Danny. D-Danny Bradwell. I...not speak...Japanese well. But. Hope can be friends."

Jack smiled slightly, yes his Japanese was rather stiff but he was curious. The ashen blond's hair fell in front of his eyes. Shaggy, and no doubt in need for a serious cut. He had multiple freckles dotting his face, and his grey eyes were wide with uncertainty. His uniform seemed to only just fit him.

"Daniel, _please go sit on that spare table over there. Next to Jacqueline._" The teacher spoke English to the child as she signalled to the table where Jack was sitting along with two of his classmates. Jack smiled and waved as he tried to not look intimidating.

Danny moved towards the seat and nodded in greeting to Jack.

Before Jack knew, it was break time and the children were realised into the playground to play. He didn't exactly have any friends to play with, and he was starting to get bored of the monkey bars. He looked around, seeing if anything interesting was going on when he spotted the new student sitting on the bench alone.

Jack smiled and walked up to the blond. "_Hello_!" He greeted in English. "_Can...sit there?_" He asked as he pointed to the empty spot next to the boy.

Danny grinned as he realised Jack was speaking English, he nodded enthusiastically. "_You can speak English? I thought I was the only one._"

Jack paused. "_I speak...little English. What...that?_" Jack asked as he pointed to the small box in Danny's hand.

"_It's..._music player_. Want to listen?_" Danny offered as he held out an earbud to the boy. Jack nodded and accepted the earbud, listening to the English music that he seemed to very much enjoy.

* * *

Jack's gender was not the issue this month in the Dawson household. Even Mr. Dawson hadn't spoken against Jack's newest haircut or his "boy" clothes that were hand me downs of sorts from Kiyoshi and Yukio who were now thirteen.

The issue was Mrs. Dawson's declining health.

Doctors weren't sure of the disease that effected her, but they suspected it was a genetic aliment considering Mrs. Dawson's father had died of similar symptoms. Mr. Dawson had even called in his acquaintance Mr. Ootori who was head in the medical field.

When Ootori visited, Jack would sit outside his mother's door hoping to be the first to hear any good news when it came. But good news never came.

Ootori had always come alone, but one day a boy that must have been only a couple of years older than Jack tagged along.

"Jack why don't you get to know Kyoya?" Taro suggested. "I know his older brother, complete stick in the mud."

Jack's mouth twitched upwards but was unsuccessful in staying there. He walked towards the sofa the boy was sat on, and Jack pulled himself to sit on the other end. He searched within himself to find a conversation topic, but his mind kept straying back to his mother's room.

"You do know that it is highly unlikely your mother will make a recovery." The boy said in a clear voice as he pushed his finely framed glasses up his nose.

"What?" Jack asked shocked that his mother would be the conversation topic.

"Your mother. She's barely able to breath without pain, and that's after you forget that if she made a recovery, due to her now brittle bones just standing up has a possibility of breaking her back clean in half, paralysing her. Her immune system is so low even a cold could block her breathing enough to kill her."

Jack could only stare in horror, as he comprehended everything that this unfeeling monster has said to him. His world about to crash down on him.

"My father knows this as well, he only came today to give your mother the news and to tell her to say her goodbyes. She most likely won't live to see the morning."

Slowly, waves of tears crashed down and Jack found himself sobbing into his hands. Jack couldn't believe it, his mother was going to die and there was nothing that could be done to help her.

Kyoya looked at the sobbing boy with confusion weaved into his expression. He couldn't understand why the news saddened him, were people really that close to their parents? He couldn't remember the last time his parents looked to him with smiles on their faces.

"Jesus." Taro muttered, rushing to Jack's side and hugging him. "I guess the youngest is just as heartless as the rest..."

"T-T-Taro? I-Is it true that Mama w-won't live to s-see the morning?" Jack sobbed into Taro's shoulder.

"We don't know little runt." Taro muttered before glaring at Kyoya.

"Mama c-can't die t-tonight...It's my b-birthday tomorrow!"

Kyoya gulped. For once, feeling regret for being so ignorant.

"I know...I know..." Taro muttered holding Jack closer. Just then, a maid skuttered in standing near the entrance to the hall.

"Mistress Dawson would like to see her children now." the maid announced, holding an arm out to the hall she had just come from. "Mr Ootori will be with you shortly." she then said sternly to the boy on the sofa.

Jack quickly scrubbed his eyes free of tears, hoping that the Ootori boy was wrong. Not being able to see your mother for three weeks whilst she slowly dies...Jack knew he couldn't handle the separation any longer.

Jack's heart spiked with pain, his mother looked awful. Machines were connected to her at various points, and a machine tracked her heartbeat. Her heartbeat that looked so painfully slow...

"Kids," she smiled, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Mama..." Jack muttered sadly as he walked over hurriedly to his mother's bedside, his brothers close behind him.

"Jack, I have something for you. It's a birthday present." Mrs. Dawson smiled as she attempted to reach the night stand away from her children. The nurse that was present stepped forwards and passed the box to her.

"Give it to me tomorrow." Jack said quickly before she passed it to him.

Mrs. Dawson smiled sadly at her youngest. "Please, Jack. Can I give it to you now?"

Tears threatened at the corners of his eyes, knowing that she knew she would not see the morning.

"Mama..." Jack sobbed, his voice cracking slightly. He couldn't take it anymore. He wanted to grab her and cry into her arms, to hug her so tight she felt like she was the most important person in the world. He wanted to rip the wires out of her and pull her up, to pull her along on a walk in the gardens like they used to do.

Jack wanted his mother back.

Jack didn't lunge forwards to grab the present, instead he carefully started to climb the bed until he was laid right next to her. He reached over and gave her the biggest hug he could muster but being careful considering how delicate her body was. Sobs racked his small body and Jack's brothers followed suit, moving forwards and hugging their mother.

Jack wasn't sure how long they spent like that. A nurse brought in a television and DVD set, deciding to all watch a movie. It was a unanimous vote and a film that Jack didn't care for remembering came on. His attention wasn't on the film in the first place, Jack wanted to just remember this moment.

He wouldn't be strong without his mother there to support him, and he knew that in the future his father would do everything to trip him up on his path to where he wanted to be in life. He had to remember her, even if right now she was on the brink of death. Any memory of her would always be precious to Jack.

Jack wasn't sure what time they fell asleep at. All of his brother had managed to fall asleep alongside their mother as well. Jack wanted to go back to sleep, back to the dream of acceptance and love. Where his mother was the epitome of health and radiance.

Instead, he felt his mother's stone cold hand limp and lifeless.

"Mama?"

* * *

_OH BOY I FINALLY UPDATE THIS DAMN FANFICTION. Wow, it's been over two years, I can't believe it. I'm actually blown away that I finally finished this chapter, I've had it in development for years. I hope this explains Jack as a character a lot more, and maybe even more of an insight to his family life. I also think that this chapter comes finished at a rather...odd time. My brother's girlfriend's mum died at 2am just on the 11th from cancer. Even weirder, it was her birthday then as well. I'm beginning to think that this was more than a coincidence or something. Either way, I'm just glad that I've finally got this out the way. I hope that I'll continue to update a little bit more regularly. Just know that I'm not dead! See you later. _

_-Danni_


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